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Electron microscopy of polar insertions in the lac operon of Escherichia coli

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Summary

Several strongly polar mutations in the omega region of the z gene of the lac operon result from insertions consisting of only two specific sequences of DNA, one about 870 and the other 1170 nucleotide pairs long (based on single-strand measurements). No sequence homology was detected between the shorter (IS1) and longer (IS3) insertions. The IS1 insertion was shown to possess a specific attachment site, but it can be inserted with either orientation at several sites in the z gene. Four insertion sites in the omega region of gene z were identified and the position of the lac5 substitution and the SR2 deletion in the λplac DNA were determined by heteroduplex mapping.

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Communicated by G. Bertani

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Malamy, M.H., Fiandt, M. & Szybalski, W. Electron microscopy of polar insertions in the lac operon of Escherichia coli . Molec. gen. Genet. 119, 207–222 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00333859

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